Suspended ceilings in general are well known. They consisted of a framework or grid of brackets referred to as runners and typically having a rigid inversed-T shape cross-section, which were suspended from a structure above, and which was used in supporting an array of ceiling tiles. Typically, runners oriented in a given longitudinal orientation were manufactured in a length substantially longer than runners oriented in a transversal orientation, the latter being often referred to as cross-tees and being engaged with two adjacent longitudinal runners at each end.
Although such suspended ceilings were satisfactory to a certain degree, the rigid inversed-T shape of the runners made them particularly difficult to arrange for shipping, and any resulting shipping configuration typically resulted in a relatively high amount of lost volume. This drawback is considerable considering that shipping costs are an important factor in the overall costs of runners and cross-tees. In another aspect, the runners were manufactured in given standard lengths, which often required longitudinally assembling two or more runners end to end. Also, runners were traditionally suspended using wire, which was time-consuming. Accordingly, there remained room for improvement.